


Reading Is Fundamental But It's Also Boring

by octoaliencowboy



Category: DCU, Grayson (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Library, Fluff, Humour, M/M, Romance, this all started bc i wanted to draw tiger wearing glasses, warning for a little bit of cringe at dicks super unsubtle flirting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-09-22 14:08:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17061203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/octoaliencowboy/pseuds/octoaliencowboy
Summary: Tiger is a hot but grumpy librarian and Dick is suddenly more passionate about reading than he has ever been in his entire life. Somehow, they fall in love.





	1. Chapter 1

It started with a simple favour. A simple favour asked of Dick, that he had no reason not to do, that seemed fairly inconsequential, so Dick agreed. Jason had asked him to pick up his library holds. Gave him his library card, told him how to tell which books would be his, told him he was too busy with finals to get them himself. Dick believed him-- his brother barely pulled his nose out of the literature anthologies textbook in his hands to talk to him, so he accepted the library card and drove on down to the library.

 

Dick could never understand the inhuman rate at which Jason consumed literature of any kind. Dick, for as long as he could remember, could never focus long enough to actually read a book, could never sit still long enough. He was constantly moving. Having to actually make himself stay in one place and make himself _read_ had always been pure torture. Not to say he never tried, obviously, but Dick could never get further than a few paragraphs before the words started to crunch together and swim around the page and his brain just gave up.

 

Nowadays Dick preferred audiobooks and podcasts, because then he could listen and move at the same time. That was way better than trying to make sense of any book in his hands.

 

That said, Dick honest to god couldn’t remember the last time he’d ever been to the public library. He never felt any reason to be there, surrounded by confounding stacks of ink-covered paper bound in pretty covers that seemed to only exist to make him feel stupid. So when he walked in the front doors of their local branch, he couldn’t help but marvel a little at all the changes that had been made since we was there last (which could have very easily been more than ten years ago, so Dick had no right to be surprised it was different).

 

It was a big, brightly lit space, with a kind of ugly carpeted floor. Right in front of the entrance was a weird cone shaped bookshelf full of DIY books, where Dick remembered once upon a time there had been two back to back rows of leather chairs that Dick liked to crawl between as a child. A tiny part of him was a little disappointed they were gone, but a bigger part of him knew it was for the better. If they were still there then the urge to crawl between them again, as a grown ass man, would be too great and he would probably end up getting kicked out of the library before he could get Jason’s holds.

 

There were rows and rows and rows _and rows_ of bookshelves, interspersed occasionally with a short table or pea green armchair. Fiction to the left, non-fiction to the right. A few metres to his left, right before the fiction stacks began was an unmanned information desk. Beyond that were, somewhere, the holds. He marched onwards.

 

The holds shelves weren't actually that hard to find-- they were marked pretty clearly. Two shelves right next to the big, wide windows and a little quiet reading area, where there were some students gathered, studying in silence. Dick grabbed Jason’s holds, distinguishable by the stickers on the spines with his brother’s last name and last however-many numbers of his library card. There were fourteen books in total. Dick rolled his eyes as he stacked them up in his arms, grunting at the weight.

 

For such a tough guy, Jason sure was a _nerd_.

 

Along the wall next to the information desk were a couple of self checkout machines. Dick walked over to them, dumping the ungodly pile of books his brother had requested on the table between the two machines.

 

The self checkout machine didn’t look too complicated. He was about to pull Jason’s card out of his pocket when a glance over his shoulder showed the information desk was no longer unmanned. His mind barely registered what it saw, drifting away again for only a split second before Dick’s eyes widened, spinning fully around in a staggering double take.

 

The man at the information desk was, well… let’s just say Dick didn’t care at all if the sexy librarian trope was way overdone. Because holy fuck, that was one _sexy librarian_. Dick leaned back against the self checkout machine for support while his brain short circuited.

 

The librarian was tall, really tall, and wide, too. He was broad shouldered, arms and torso thick with gratuitous muscle under his olive green cable knitted sweater. He was standing with his back to Dick, so Dick got a great view of the way the guy’s tan slacks complemented the shape of his butt. The librarian was wearing a deep yellow keffiyeh wrapped tightly around his head and tied in a knot at the back, excess fabric draped over one shoulder.

 

Then the hot librarian turned around to rearrange a display of pamphlets, and Dick nearly fainted. The man’s face alone was a triple, nay, a _quintuple_ threat of hot-- he had a fantastic beard, obviously very well groomed, wow, that framed a sharp and solid jaw and the most incredible high cheekbones Dick had _ever_ seen. There was a badass looking scar cutting right through his right eyebrow above a pair of glasses, a set of square ish wire frames perched high on the man’s prominent nose. Beard, jaw, cheekbones, scar, glasses, holy shit.

 

The librarian turned back around and sat on the chair behind the desk, clicking a few things on the computer screen Dick couldn’t make out. A slow smile stretched across his face. Maybe this trip to the library wouldn’t be so uneventful after all.

 

Dick sauntered up to the desk, putting on his most potent ‘I’m so helpless and adorable, please help me sexy stranger,’ face, complete with wide eyes and sheepish little smile. He leaned on the wooden desk, catching the attention of the librarian.

 

“Hi,” he said, lowering his eyelashes at the librarian. The librarian gave Dick a blank stare.

 

“What can I help you with, sir?” The librarian asked politely, unaffected by Dick’s approach. Dick huffed inwardly. He might have to turn it up a little to get this one.

 

He bit his lip around a charming grin. “Uhm, I can’t figure out how to use that machine…” He pointed to the self checkout stations behind him, tilting his head to the side. “Can you show me?”

 

The librarian-- who wasn’t wearing a nametag, Dick noticed with a slight frown, looked like he was only just holding himself back from letting out a long suffering sigh in the name of professionalism. But still, Dick felt a little thrill when the man’s gaze flickered briefly down to his mouth.

 

The librarian stood up… and up and up. Dick’s eyes widened involuntarily when he realized the top of his own head only came up to the man’s nose. Dick followed him over to the machine where he left Jason’s mountain of books.

 

“It’s _very_ simple.” Said the librarian, speaking slowly as if he were instructing a small child. Dick held back a snicker. “Tap the screen, select a language. Put your card in this slot so the machine can scan it, then put in your pin,”

 

The librarian motioned to each part of the machine as he spoke. Dick watched him intently, shifting his weight slightly so he leaned a little further into the librarian’s space. The librarian noticed, pausing in his speech for a second to look down at Dick.

 

Dick smiled innocently. He batted his eyelashes. The librarian turned back to the machine.

 

“This space here is where you put the book to scan it. You can put as many at a time as the machine can physically fit. When the machine is done scanning the book the title will appear on the screen, here. When you’ve finished scanning them all you can select finish, either with or without the receipt.” He pointed to the wide, cube shaped space within the machine, then back up to the screen. “We recommend you select finish _without_ receipt, because it’s more environmentally friendly.”

 

“Wow,” Dick breathed. “You’re really smart.” He twirled a strand of hair around his finger and batted his eyelashes again.

 

The librarian gave him a confused frown, staring at Dick for a second, then looking down at the stack of books on the table beside them, then back at Dick. He picked up the one on the top of the stack.

 

“Sir, are you sure these are your books?”

 

Dick blinked, mind blanking for a second. “Uh, yeah, I’m all about, uh…” he glanced at the cover of the book the librarian held in his hands. “Moral philosophy… and stuff.”

 

The hot librarian clearly didn’t believe him, but he didn’t push the issue. He turned to walk back to the information desk. Dick stopped him with a hand on his (wow, very solid) bicep.

 

“Wait,” he said with a sheepish grin, “Can you stay for another minute? I’m not sure I got all that…”

 

This time the librarian visibly rolled his eyes, but he stayed all the same. Dick faced the machine, digging through the front pocket of his jeans for Jason’s card. He pulled it out and, almost as if in slow motion, let it slip between his fingertips and onto the carpeted floor below.

 

“Oops,” Dick laughed. “Clumsy me.” The librarian looked unimpressed. Well, time to fix that. Dick reached down slowly, bending perfectly at the waist, and grabbed the library card off the floor. Then he snapped back up to meet the librarian’s eyes again, running a hand casually through his hair.

 

The librarian no longer looked unimpressed. He looked like he was trying really hard to keep looking unimpressed. Inwardly, Dick cheered in triumph. Outwardly, he cast a little smirk in the librarian’s direction.

 

Then he went about actually checking out Jason’s books, done for now with theatrics. He went through the process quickly, because it really was super easy, and also because he wanted a little bit to show the hot librarian he wasn’t _actually_ stupid. It had been an act, obviously.

 

The librarian just crossed his arms and watched for a moment. “You seem to have it figured out, now.” He said. “So if you’ll excuse me, I have other work to attend to.”

 

And so the hot librarian was off, taking his seat at the information desk again before Dick could protest. Dick pouted, a little disappointed the man had just retreated before Dick could ask for his number or anything, but Dick could read the signals clearly-- the hot but grumpy librarian wasn’t interested.

 

Dick sighed as he checked out the last of Jason’s holds and hefted the stack up into his arms again. Damnit, why didn’t he think to bring a bag?

 

“Bye, thanks for all your help!” He called over his shoulder as he passed the information desk on his way out the door. The hot but grumpy librarian shushed him, and he laughed.

  
  


That should have been the end of it. But a little over a week later, Dick discovered he had poorer impulse control than he originally thought.

 

“Where ya headed, Jay?”

 

Dick had been visiting the manor over the weekend when he caught his brother on his way out the front door. Jason stopped with one hand on the doorknob. Dick scampered down the last few steps of the manor’s grand staircase to catch up with his little brother.

 

“The library,” Jason said. Dick’s eyes lit up inexplicably, and the words were out of his mouth before he could think twice about how weird his sudden enthusiasm was.

 

“I’ll go with you!”

 

Jason raised an incredulous eyebrow at him as if that were the last thing he’d ever expected to hear coming from Dick. Granted, it kind of _was_ . “You heard me correctly, right? I said I’m going to the _library_.”

 

Dick nodded. It was too late to back out now. “Yeah, I know.”

 

Jason’s raised eyebrow intensified. “You hate the library.”

 

Dick scoffed, waving a hand in the air. “Psh, _no_ ,” He said, his voice raising an octave or two. “I love the library! You know, books and, reading… and stuff… yeah I love that stuff. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

 

Jason rolled his eyes. “Alright, whatever, man, fine.” He opened the door and marched out to his motorcycle. Dick pulled his shoes on with a grin. He followed Jason out the door, shutting it behind him. They were going to the _library_.

  
  


As soon as they walked in the front doors Dick’s eyes gravitated towards the information desk, hoping beyond hope to see… yes!

 

The hot but grumpy librarian was there! This time he wore a blue sweater instead of green, but it was the only change to his appearance that Dick could see from there.

 

Dick couldn’t help but do a little fist pump of joy, which unfortunately revealed his motivations for coming to the library to Jason, who looked over at the desk, then back at Dick like he wished literally anyone else in the world was his brother, in that moment.

 

“Ugh, I shoulda known. Only you would come to the library because you’re freaking  _horny_.”

 

Dick sputtered. “That’s not it! I’m not! He’s just-- cute, okay?”

 

Jason snorted, turning right towards the non fiction section. Dick trailed after him. “What, do you disagree? Because if so then you must not have eyes, because that man is _damn fine_ . He looks like he would treat me right. I could have that man’s babies. I’m horny in my _heart_!”

 

Jason mimed gagging, and shooed him away. “Whatever Horneo, but I’ll tell you right now I’ve interacted with that guy a couple times before, and he is _not_ friendly.”

 

“I’ll take that as a challenge.” Dick sniffed. He turned his nose up at Jason, who wasn’t paying attention to him anymore anyway, and strutted over to the information desk.  

 

The library’s carpeted floors muffled Dick’s footsteps so that the hot but grumpy librarian didn’t notice Dick’s presence approaching right away. It wasn’t until Dick leaned forward on his elbows on the desktop that he looked up from the computer screen.

 

The librarian looked surprised to see Dick. That was good, though, because it meant he recognized him. Dick would have felt pretty awkward if the guy didn’t remember him after the spectacle me made of himself last week.

 

“Hey,” Dick said with his most alluring grin. He wondered if maybe Mr. Hot And Grumpy would prefer Suave and Charming Dick over Born-Sexy-Yesterday Dick. “Sorry to bother you, but I realized I didn’t catch your name last time I was here.”

 

The librarian pursed his lips at him in an unimpressed glare. He turned back to the computer screen and held up the ID tag on the end of his lanyard. Huh. He didn’t have that last time. Dick leaned forward, reading the name on the tag out loud.

 

Or he tried to, before the librarian cut him off.

 

“Pra—“

 

“No.”

 

Dick blinked at him. “Then, how do you pronounce it?”

 

The librarian looked at him again, and Dick could have sworn there was a hint of mischief under his aloof exterior. “Figure it out.” He challenged.

 

Dick shook his head with a chuckle. “Nah, I think I’ll save you the headache.”

 

“Really? Seems out of character for you.”

 

Dick’s jaw dropped. He stared at the librarian for one, two, three seconds before letting out a snort of laughter. The man’s deadpan delivery wasn’t enough to disguise the fact that he just roasted the shit out of Dick.

 

“Oh, brutal,” he said, dropping the act. He glanced at the librarian’s lanyard again. “I like your sticker.”

 

Stuck on the top right corner of the plastic casing of his ID was a sticker of a little cartoon tiger.

 

“One of the children downstairs gave it to me.”

 

Downstairs, where the kids’ area was. The mental image of this six-and-nearly-a-half-feet tall man, with the permanent frown on his face, surrounded by a crowd of small children gifting him stickers, made Dick smile.

 

“Then I think I’ll just call you that instead. Tiger the librarian.”

 

Tiger the librarian smirked suddenly, as if there was some joke that Dick was missing out on. Then he went back to whatever he was typing on the computer.

 

“My name’s Dick Grayson,” he said, offering his hand to shake. Tiger paused in his typing, but did not shake Dick’s hand.

 

A moment of tense silence passed before Tiger spoke. “Dick.” He said it like he didn’t really believe Dick, or maybe more like he didn’t want to believe it. “Please tell me that is short for Richard.”

 

Dick nodded. “Yup.”

 

Tiger hummed, but didn’t speak further. He resumed his typing. Dick propped his chin up on his hand, drumming his fingers against the surface of the desk. He looked idly around the library. He noticed, briefly, that the cone shaped display was now showing off books about marine life.

 

“Hey, do you think it’s octopi or octopuses?”

 

Tiger sighed. “Is there anything that you actually need my help with or are you just here to be a nuisance?”

 

“This is the information desk, isn’t it? Well I want information.” Dick pouted. “Is it octopi or octopuses?”

 

“Actually, it’s octopods,” Tiger said. “And I have work to do, so unless you have a _serious_ inquiry then I suggest you go find something else to occupy yourself with.”

 

Dick slumped forward, sprawling nearly his entire upper body over the desk. Tiger was looking more and more done with him by the second. “Like what?”

 

“That man you came in with. Why don’t you go bother him instead?”

 

He pretended to consider it for a second while he further exaggerated his sprawl. “Nah, he’s my baby brother and that means I get to bother him whenever I want. Right now is special bother _Tiger_ time.”

 

Tiger responded to Dick’s cheeky grin with a glare. “I could call security on you.”

 

Dick scoffed. “Is there even security? We’re in a library.”

 

“Yes,” Tiger said, though he sounded defensive. Dick didn’t believe him for a second, but he let him have this one. Personally, Dick wouldn’t have been surprised if Tiger himself doubled as security. Someone would try and, like, steal a book or something, and then Tiger would glare at them until they put it back.

 

Now that Dick thought about it, Tiger was a kind of perfect stereotypical librarian. He wasn’t an old woman or anything, but he was intimidating and he wore glasses. That’s all you really needed to be a librarian, right?

 

“Have you got any siblings, Tiger?”

 

Tiger was still focused on the computer screen when he answered curtly, “That’s none of your business.“

 

Dick huffed, but didn’t press further. Instead he let the silence linger for another minute before he started to get antsy again.

 

He was about to ask Tiger what he was doing on the computer when suddenly a large hand grabbed the back of his collar. Dick yelped, hands scrabbling on the desk as he was yanked backwards and shoved to the side.

 

Dick barely caught himself in a bridge before he hit the ground. Above him, a familiar voice said “Checkout, please.”

 

Using his impeccable core strength and balance, Dick righted himself again with a glare at his brother.

 

“Thanks, Jason.” He said with obvious sarcasm.

 

Jason shrugged nonchalantly as Tiger swiftly scanned his books. There were only three this time. “Yanno, I was _gonna_ just tell you to stop being heart-horny or whatever you called it but that was way more satisfying.”

 

To his credit, Tiger did a very good job of not reacting to what Jason said, something Dick didn’t accomplish at all. He choked on air and punched Jason in his stupid meaty arm as hard as he could. At the very least, Dick managed to keep himself from blushing.

 

Unfortunately, Jason wasn’t done. He turned to Tiger. “Hey, has he asked you to marry him yet?”

 

 _Then_ Dick wasn’t able to keep his face from going red. “Jason!” He hissed, pointedly not looking at the librarian, whose stare he could now feel on him like a laser. To the average person that probably wouldn't have been nearly as embarrassing as 'heart horny', but when you had already been engaged three times (with none of those engagements working out, to boot) it was a far more scathing remark.

 

Jason just chortled, putting his now checked out books in his bag. “Well, it’s only a matter of time. Come on, Dickhead, let's go.”

 

Tiger watched the two brothers leave, a curious expression on his face. The younger, whose name Tiger didn’t remember and didn’t care to remember, was, ironically, a model library patron. He came frequently, spent a lot of time between the stacks and borrowed many books, but also never returned a book late and always took good care of them. He was respectful of the environment and polite to the staff and other patrons, while also not being annoyingly friendly.

 

Dick Grayson, on the other hand, was more likely a nightmare created specifically to torment him, seeing as though that was all he had done since Tiger met him only a week ago.

 

He had no concept of an inside voice. He didn’t seem to know the purpose of a library. He was either very stupid and good at acting like he wasn’t, or not stupid and for some reason very good at acting like he was. He was also, and this possibly annoyed Tiger most of all, very attractive.

 

A part of Tiger had hoped that Dick was, in truth, an idiot, because then it would have been easier to stop thinking about him. But after their second meeting Tiger was beginning to suspect he wasn’t nearly as dumb as he’d acted a week ago.

  
If that was true, then Tiger sincerely hoped he would never see Dick Grayson again. Because Tiger _liked_ men who had real substance under their pretty faces. If he did see Dick again, then he may find himself in danger of falling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The joke that Dick isn't in on is that Tiger's name-- or what I hc his name is-- is Praang (which is pronounced kinda like wrrenn), which means tiger in Pashto lol


	2. Chapter 2

It took three days for Dick to give in and go back to the library. For three days his attention wandered away from the present, no matter what he was doing, and back to Tiger the librarian. Dick tried to figure out why his brain was so stuck on the man when they had only interacted twice. Maybe it really was only a purely physical attraction, but he swore up and down that wasn’t it. He was genuinely interested in the guy. He seemed… different.

 

As conceited as it sounded, Dick usually had a lot of people just eating out the palm of his hand. He could charm the (metaphorical) pants off of anyone. Dick liked to flirt. It was an art. A game. A game he usually won. 

 

Note that in Dick’s case, winning didn’t mean going home and spending the night with whoever he’d been flirting with. That wasn’t Dick’s thing. To him, winning meant he’d managed to create a real connection to the person-- an exchange of a little piece of their hearts and souls so they both walked away from the encounter feeling more whole than they were before. 

 

Or at least that was how Dick described it. His friends said he was a tease who liked attention.

 

Which was also a fair point, but still.

 

He hadn’t managed to establish that connection with Tiger yet. Tiger wasn’t like anyone Dick had met before. Either people were into Dick and they were open to his flirting or they just weren’t into him, which he could respect, but Tiger  _ was _ into him. Dick could tell from his body language. He was into him, but he had walls up. 

 

Dick wanted to know what was behind those walls.  So three days later, he went back to the library. He parked his motorcycle in the parking lot across the street from the large stone building, shoving his hands deep in his coat pockets as he dashed across traffic. There was a thin blanket of snow on the ground covered by a layer of ice from the freezing rain the night before, and the sky was gray and cloudy. It was barely late afternoon but the sun was already starting to go down, leaving Gotham even colder than it normally was. 

 

When he walked in the front doors Dick’s eyes immediately drifted towards the information desk. Dick had to tamp down a wave of disappointment when he saw that Tiger wasn’t there. 

 

Sitting behind the desk instead was a woman around Dick’s height, with loose black curls falling around her shoulders and warm cinnamon brown skin. She wore a dark purple t-shirt and a lanyard like Tiger’s. She was really pretty, and on any other day would have caught Dick’s eye as much as Tiger had, but right now he was on a mission.

 

“Hi, anything I can help you with?” Said the woman with a polite smile. Dick trotted up to the desk with a smile of his own. 

 

“There might be,” he said. “I’m looking for one of your coworkers. Tall and handsome, beard and glasses?” 

 

The librarian scanned him up and down, eyebrows raising slightly. Probably trying to figure out if he was some crazy stalker or not. 

 

“Your name wouldn’t happen to be Richard Grayson, would it?” she eventually said. 

 

Dick looked at her in surprise. He nodded. 

 

“Huh, what do you know.” Said the woman. “You really are as cute as Tiger said you were.” 

 

Dick’s heart skipped a beat. “He said I was cute?” 

 

“Well he didn’t say that exactly,” the woman pursed her lips. “But when he described you he was definitely giving a positive review, even if his tone of voice didn’t suggest it.”

 

“What else did he say about me?” 

 

“Not as positive things.” The woman laughed. “He said you were a walking migraine and not to let you in. But I think he was just being melodramatic as usual. I’m Helena, by the way.”

 

Dick gave her a little wave. “Dick. And I guess that makes more sense.” He tapped the polished surface of the desk in an impatient little drumroll, glancing around the library. “Is he working today?” 

 

Helena smiled cryptically at him. “Oh, he’s around here somewhere… but if he asks, we never met.”

 

Pushing away from the desk, Dick shot Helena a wink and finger guns before spinning on his heel and running off into the depths of the library. 

 

“Don’t run!” Helena called after him, and Dick laughed, but slowed to a walk anyway. 

 

He wandered through the shelves, peeking around the corners for the librarian with whom he’d quickly become fascinated with. It reminded Dick of when he was younger and Alfred would take him grocery shopping, and he would run through the supermarket checking every aisle for the elderly butler after he’d been sent away to fetch something. 

 

When his sweep of the ground floor yielded no results, Dick wandered down the stairs in hopes that he would have better luck in the children’s section. He passed through a little area full of hooks covered in small coats and benches full of wet snow boots, and into the children’s section. 

 

The children’s section was… small. Well, no, the room itself was quite spacious, but everything in it was small. Which made sense, because it was also full of small children. 

 

Lots of small children and one very large man. 

 

Dick spotted Tiger among the shorter stacks of shelves, showing something among the books to a girl who looked about middle school aged. The man finished showing the girl whatever it was she had been looking for, satisfied as she seemed with Tiger’s help, and the librarian turned around only to immediately spot Dick. 

 

Tiger stopped mid step when he saw Dick, all life draining visibly from his face as the reality of Dick’s presence set in. Dick gave him a grin and a wave. Tiger stomped over to him. 

 

“Did Helena let you in?” The librarian asked, voice sharp and sounding like he was at the end of his rope already. 

 

To his credit, Dick played his part really well. He blinked innocently up at Tiger, tilting his head to the side a little. “Who’s Helena? Also, is this or is this not a  _ public _ library?”

 

Tiger sighed. “It is,” he said, clearly hating the fact that Dick was right. 

 

“Then I am totally allowed to be here.” 

 

“Fine, then what are you here  _ for _ ?” Tiger demanded. 

 

_ I’m here for you,  _ Dick didn’t say.  _ Because I’m curious about you. Because this is the first time in a long time I’ve been so drawn to a complete stranger,  _ He also definitely did not say.

 

“Book,” he said instead. Dick winced. “Wait, That was terrible, let me try again. What do you guys even have here?” 

 

Tiger’s posture relaxed infinitesimally at the question, like he was getting back into his comfort zone. “We have more than just  _ book _ , singular, obviously. We have books on nearly all subjects, but if there’s one you want that isn’t at this location you can place a hold and it will be brought here for you to pick up, or if the title isn’t at any of our other locations we can see about adding it to our collection. You can also borrow movies, ebooks, and audiobooks, or make use of the internet station upstairs.” His tone was even and professional, with a hint of happiness that Dick liked. It was obvious the guy was passionate about his job. Dick liked that, too. He nodded along to what Tiger was saying. 

 

“Alright, that’s cool. Uh, I probably need a library card to do any of those things, though, huh?” 

 

“Yes, you do.”

 

“Ah.” Dick scratched at the back of his neck. “I haven’t used my library card in ages… could I get a new one?”

 

For a moment the two men just stared at each other, while Dick waited for Tiger to respond. Tiger was kind of just glaring at him, looking deep in thought like he was weighing the pros and cons of enabling Dick’s presence at the library. Eventually his sense of duty as a librarian won out.

 

“I can renew your old card.” He said. He went behind the desk and started up the computer. Dick leaned forward on the short desk to take a peak at what Tiger was doing. 

 

“Do you remember your card number?”

 

“Definitely not.” Dick laughed. Tiger looked like he was fighting the urge to sigh. 

 

“I might be able to find you by name, then…” Tiger rapidly typed a few things and clicked on a few more things that Dick couldn’t keep up with, until a file-sort-of-thing titled ‘Richard Grayson’ popped up. Tiger clicked on it. 

 

Tiger stared at the file, eyes slowly widening further and further in shock. His hand drifted up to cover his mouth. Then, a sound Dick never thought he would hear from Tiger— a snort. Then something he expected even less— Tiger dissolved into helpless laughter. 

 

“What?” Dick said, leaning further forward to try and see what the librarian was laughing at. 

 

Wheezing, Tiger turned the screen around. 

 

The source of Tiger’s amusement, that was 100% at Dick’s expense, were a little cluster of bright red numbers on the screen under Dick’s name. A fine. 

 

A fine in the quadruple digits. 

 

_ $2007.75 _

 

Dick’s jaw dropped and Tiger laughed harder. The librarian stood up, pulling out his phone. 

 

“Helena,” he said, trying and failing to stifle his laughter. “Helena you have to come see this. I don’t care, just get down here, now. Allahu Akbar, I knew his name sounded familiar.” 

 

Dick’s jaw remained on the floor as he stared at the fine and then at the librarian. 

 

The man was grinning full force even as he hung up and sat back down, and Dick was finding himself quickly becoming obsessed with the way his smile caused the corners of his eyes to crinkle up, the way it made his whole body seem lighter. 

 

It was over soon, though, as Tiger quickly composed himself, reverting back to his aloof, professional expression. Hints of mirth remained in his eyes as he looked at the screen again. 

 

Tiger cleared his throat. “You have yet to return an express book, from, ah, eleven years go.  _ The common man’s reality during the Great Depression _ , by Bernadette Stein.”

 

Dick could feel his face heating up as the reality set in. He remembered, now— he’d borrowed that book for a social studies project. In grade ten. And then the book must have gotten lost somewhere under a pile of laundry or something, forgotten forever, and now Dick owed the library over  _ two thousand dollars _ . 

 

Probably more, to cover the cost of the lost book. 

 

“Ack,” Dick squeaked. He couldn’t bring himself to say much else. Behind them, Helena came strolling into the children’s section. 

 

“What’s  _ so _ fantastic down here that you made me leave the front desk unattended, Mr Never-Abandon-Your-Responsibilities-Or-Slack-Off-For-Any-Reason-Ever?” She said. Dick pointed weakly at the computer screen detailing his shame. 

 

Helena’s eyes bugged out of her head. “Holy crap, you’re  _ that _ Richard Grayson?! You’re infamous here, you know.” 

 

“The last time we checked the fee was almost a year ago,” Tiger said as if he was examining an only mildly intriguing scientific discovery, and not literally the biggest accumulation of debt Dick had ever had (would have been second biggest if Dick hadn’t dropped out of college after less than one semester). “It’s increased a lot.”

 

“Oh my god…” Dick croaked. “Can you, like, cancel it?” 

 

“Only way to stop it from growing is return the book or pay to replace it.” Helena said, helpfully but also unhelpfully, because there was no way Dick was going to be able to find that book over a decade after the fact. If he hadn’t found it by accident already then it was gone forever. 

 

“Urgh…” Dick groaned, slumping against the desk and sliding so he sat hunched on the floor. A toddler passing by looked at him funny, and her mother who was trailing after her looked at him funnier. Dick fished his wallet out of his coat pocket. “How much to replace the book?” 

 

Tiger looked embarrassed to have ever met him. He typed something into the computer, then answered, “Thirty five dollars.” 

 

Dick wheezed. He pulled two twenties from his wallet and slapped them down onto the desk without looking. “Do you have a five…?” 

 

He heard a sigh and the opening of a drawer. A bill was pressed into his hand, and Dick shoved the five into his wallet. 

 

“There, there,” Helena reached down to give him a pat on the shoulder. 

 

“Get off the floor, Richard.” Tiger said in a tone of voice that had Dick scrambling to his feet before he even realized what he was doing. 

 

“Oh, man.” Dick ran a hand through his hair and looked at Tiger with pleading eyes. “Oh man, how am I going to pay this? Can I, like,  _ work _ it off? I don’t think I can procure two thousand dollars and keep my dignity.”

 

“Yes!” Helena said immediately. “Yes, you can!”

 

“ _ No _ , you can  _ not _ .” Tiger glared at Helena fiercely. 

 

“Aw, come on, please?” Dick put on his best puppy eyes, and Tiger seemed to pause, staring at him. Dick cranked the puppy dog eyes up to eleven. He stuck his bottom lip out just a little bit, enough to draw attention but not enough to make it look corny. 

 

It took a good few minutes of this convoluted staring contest for Tiger to cave. 

 

“Well, Helena is in charge, so it’s her decision anyway.” Tiger threw his hands up in defeat. 

 

“Yes!” Dick cheered. “You won’t regret this!” 

 

“I think I will.” 

 

But Tiger’s grumbling was drowned out by the force of Dick’s celebration. 

 

Tiger fought down a sigh as Dick hugged first Helena, who looked surprised but not displeased with the sudden embrace. Then Dick leaned over the desk to wrap his arms around Tiger’s neck and pull him into a tight hug as well and Tiger spluttered, trying not to blush. 

 

Yes, he was  _ definitely  _ going to regret this. 

  
  
  


Or, maybe he wouldn’t. 


End file.
